Maple Crest Farm hosts annual steeplechase event

by Dan Holland

A number of equestrian students who board horses and take riding lessons at Maple Crest Farm, located at 6530 Miller Rd., participated in the site’s annual Halloween Hunter Pace steeplechase event held on the grounds of the 20-acre property on Oct. 19.

Riders, who donned costumes for the event, paired up in teams and together navigated a 3-mile-long route marked off throughout the property to accomplish specific skills and tasks, explained the farm’s Equine Riding Trainer Stacey Giere.

“They’re allowed to walk, trot or canter the horses,” said Giere, who owns and operates the full-service equine riding, driving, training and boarding facility along with her brother, Brant. “The teams are composed of either two or three riders, along with their equine partner, and then their finish time is hopefully within a window of the optimum time.”

Stacy Giere added that the distance of the path has been measured, and the riders try to go at the appropriate speeds and walk when necessary, trot, canter, or gallop a little bit, and then their finish time is compared with the other teams to determine their finishing place.

The event helps participants further develop riding and teamwork skills to help prepare for competitions and also teaches how to handle a horse over different terrains.

“The teamwork comes in where you don’t want to get so far ahead of your teammates, that either they get lost or their horses don’t behave, or the rider loses their confidence,” explained Giere. “The team player approach here is a matter of the horses and riders working together. They learn timing and distance and they learn the skills necessary to be on a horse out in nature, which on the farm composes all pieces of the pasture and field, the jump ring, the lower property and the driveways.” ∞